Chinese tourists shun London ‘every minute’

London is losing out on lucrative Chinese tourist visits “every minute” because of Britain’s bureaucratic and expensive visa process, a leading tour operator has warned.

Yu Ning Ning, president of China International Travel Service, the country’s most powerful tour operator, said tourists find it easier to go to European countries covered by the single Schengen visa rather than London. Her company, which runs 800 travel agencies, brings fewer than 10,000 tourists to Britain a year from a total customer base of 3.2 million.

Chinese visitors usually want to visit a number of European countries and can do that on the Schengen visa. If they want to include London they have to go through a laborious separate application for a UK visa.

Ms Yu said “If I want to send 1,000 people [to the UK] I have to send buses [to a visa processing centre]. This is really causing problems. Every minute you are losing business.”

Improvements announced last year by the Home Office have made little difference in persuading major tour companies to include the UK on travel itineraries, she added. Asked if she had detected any improvement, Ms Yu replied: “Not much.” She said: “The UK visa is not a cheap visa, it’s a more expensive visa,” adding that the British system is even more complicated than the US process for Chinese visitors.

Ms Yu, who was in London for a conference organised by the British Hospitality Association, said her tour operator will continue to avoid sending large groups to the UK until there are substantial improvements. Another frequent complaint is the inadequate facilities at UK airports to reclaim tax on purchases. Apart from Heathrow, most UK airports only have a post box where Chinese visitors can submit claims, unlike in Europe where most airports have help desks, said Ms Yu.

A Home Office spokesman said: “China is one of the UK’s priority markets for tourism and business. Our Chinese visa system provides an excellent service and we will continue to make improvements wherever possible, but we will not compromise the security of our border.”